Klingbeil Aims to Stabilize Social Security Contributions
Klingbeil Aims to Stabilize Social Security Contributions
Lars Klingbeil (SPD), the federal finance minister, has pledged steady social security contributions to workers and businesses and has opposed easing the burden on high earnings in light of the proposed tax change. “Rising social security contributions are a problem. For employees because they have less money in their pockets, for companies because they have higher wage costs,” Klingbeil told Bild am Sonntag. “That’s why we need to stabilize the contributions,” he emphasized.
Contributions to health and long-term care insurance funds in particular are on the rise, which can only be short-term funded by increased budgetary subsidies. This is hardly a long-term fix, according to Klingbeil: “The finance minister cannot be contacted and asked for more money on a regular basis. For contributions to remain constant over time, fundamental reforms are required.
With regard to the planned tax reform of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU)-Social Democratic Party (SPD) coalition, Klingbeil spoke out against tax relief for top earners in an interview with “BamS”: “I think it’s wrong if people like me receive more tax relief than the cashier in the supermarket. People who earn as much as I do don’t need tax relief from the state. I’m concerned about hard-working people with low and middle incomes,” the minister added.
The top priority for him when drawing up the budgets for the current and coming year is “that Germany gets back on track for growth and that we secure jobs. To achieve this, we are lowering energy prices and boosting investments with super write-offs.” Klingbeil, who is also the leader of the SPD, also announced his intention to reposition his party: The 16.4 percent in the election “was a sign to us that some things have to change. People had the feeling that we cared too much about citizens’ income and too little about people in work.”
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